Christmas Rose
by stillgoldie1899
Summary: Jack has no idea what to get Sarah for Christmas, and it's driving him insane. (Holiday one-shot)


In the first place, Jack didn't really understand Hanukkah. He knew it was like Christmas, but he had no idea what it was about, so getting Sarah, not to mention David and Les, Hanukkah presents? Didn't make any kind of sense. What did you get someone for Hanukkah, anyway?

So he had decided, some time in late November, that he was just going to get them Christmas presents, and be done with it. But what Christmas presents?

Les was easy, just some candy he snagged from Irving Hall. It wasn't stealing, Medda always told him he could take some, and Les wouldn't care that it was from the Hall, he'd just enjoy the candy, and the gift.

David was trickier. He wasn't the sort who'd want the simple things, like marbles, or naughty picture cards. In the end, Jack ended up asking Kloppman, who had suggested a book on how businesses worked. When Jack asked him where the heck he was supposed to find something like that, the older man offered one of his own, from his small collection of books, well-worn, but still nice, it's canvas cover unstained.

And then there was Sarah. Sarah...what to get Sarah? What to find for Sarah that would express his feelings. He was so very bad with expressing his feelings the way a lot of guys did. He couldn't write her poems, he'd tried that and everything came out like a nursery rhyme. And he couldn't draw, or make things. He could afford to take her out to dinner or something, someplace nice. At best, he could manage Irving Hall, and they'd been there together so many times she had to be getting bored with it.

Jewelry and trinkets were just about out of his price range, as well. He wanted to get her a nice necklace, or ring, although those things made it seem so serious, and he wasn't sure he was that serious about her yet. But she was so beautiful, and so sweet, and so smart, and so driven, how could he resist her? How could he help but think about a life with her? And he knew she wanted to stay in the city, but he couldn't help but daydream about her, in Santa Fe, eventually, the two of them, together. A life there, a ranch, hard work, the sun on his face, Sarah waiting for him back home with a glass of cool water and a smile, the kids running around his feet. These were the things he thought about when he thought of her, and he couldn't even find the words to tell her.

And he couldn't think of the right Christmas gift, either. It was driving him insane, and Christmas was only a day away. As he sold his last papers on Christmas eve, he tried to keep an eye out for something, anything he might give her. And as the sun set, early as it always did in winter, he was starting to lose hope.

But then he saw it. A rose, in a flower shop window. And, as it was winter, he was sure it would cost him, but it was sort of perfect. It's petals looked so soft, the color of it a beautiful, dusky red, the petals darkening as they wrapped around themselves towards the green of the stem. It was simple, and elegant, and beautiful, and at once he knew that was what he had to get Sarah, not any rose, but that rose.

Luckily, the shop was still open, and he was able to buy it, but once he had, it suddenly occurred to him that he'd now have to keep it, the way it was, until he could give it to her, the following afternoon. He knew that wasn't going to work, however, the flower would wilt.

It was a problem he didn't have all that much time to sold, as he was startled when he looked up and saw Sarah, making her way through the snow-covered street, a shy smile on her face. He hesitated, the rose still in his hands, turning a little pink as he waved at her. Her eyes widened when she saw the red flower in his hand, and she moved a bit quicker, blushing a bit herself.

"I wanted to come find you to give you this before everything is so crazy tomorrow..." She blurted out when she got close enough, before even managing to say hello, and it made her blush a bit darker red. She held out a box, carefully wrapped, biting her lower lip, a concerned look on her face.

He hesitated a moment, before holding out the rose, smiling awkwardly. "Well...you've got great timing. I was wanting to give this to you."

The gifts exchanged hands, and Sarah buried her nose in the rose, with a silly grin on her face. "Oh, Jack, it's beautiful! Perfect. I love it. This must have cost you a fortune, you really shouldn't have. But I love it."

The box she'd handed Jack had about four layers of paper on it, but when he finally got to the box itself, he found it was filled with five new penny dreadfuls, all about cowboys. His eyes went a bit wide, and he grinned at her, his grin just as silly as hers was. "You got all these for me? Really? Wow, I've never read any of these..."

They both just grinned at each other for what seemed like forever, as Jack built up the nerve he'd never managed to build up before, stumbling over the words. "Sarah, I love you."

It was the first time he'd said it, and the reaction in the brunette was, as expected, vivid. She stared at him, dumbfounded for a moment before launching herself at him, her lips firmly pressed against his, nearly bowling him over, and he eventually had to pull away, just to catch his breath. When he did, she gasped, breathless and grinning. "I love you, Jack"

They ended up kissing again, for perhaps a bit too long, before a crew of tutting old women brushed past them, and they broke apart, heads ducking a bit. He walked her home, exchanging another chaste kiss in her doorway before heading back to the lodging house, whistling.

It occurred to him, as he walked, that while the books, and the rose, were great gifts, the best gift of all was finally telling Sarah how he really felt about her, and having her tell him she loved him, too.


End file.
